Genmab’s royalty engine generated $742 million in Q1 2026 — up 26% year-over-year — and that single line item reveals the central tension in the company’s current strategic moment. DARZALEX alone posted $3.96 billion in net sales through J&J, a 22% jump that continues to fund Genmab’s ambitions while simultaneously underscoring just how dependent the company remains on assets it does not commercially control. That dependence is the context within which every decision about EPKINLY, Rina-S, and petosemtamab must be read.
The Merus integration is costing real money — $45 million in acquisition and integration charges this quarter, plus a step-up in intangible amortization from $3 million to $12 million as the Biclonics platform gets absorbed into the balance sheet. Operating profit actually declined slightly on a reported basis, from $188 million to $180 million, even as revenue grew $181 million. Strip out those acquisition costs and adjusted operating profit expands to $237 million, but that framing obscures a structural point: Genmab is consuming margin now to build a commercial engine it doesn’t yet have. Operating expenses ex-acquisition charges rose 25%, paced entirely by launch preparation for Rina-S and petosemtamab and pipeline advancement costs. This is deliberate, but it is also a bet that both assets perform commercially in a market where antibody-drug conjugates and bispecifics are crowding fast.
EPKINLY’s trajectory matters here more than the revenue figure alone. The FDA’s label change removing the 24-hour hospitalization recommendation for third-line-plus relapsed/refractory DLBCL is a genuine commercial unlock — cytokine release syndrome management has been the friction point suppressing community oncology adoption of T-cell engagers broadly. This is not a minor label tweak; it repositions EPKINLY as a realistic option outside academic centers, which is where volume lives. The AbbVie profit-sharing obligation, visible in the 55% rise in cost of product sales, means Genmab captures only a portion of that upside, but broader adoption still improves the asset’s profile as a platform proof point for the bispecific franchise.
The number to watch is EPKINLY’s net product sales trajectory over the next two quarters — specifically whether the hospitalization label change translates into measurable community-site uptake before Rina-S and petosemtamab arrive and compete for internal resource prioritization and investor attention.
Jon Napitupulu is Director of Media Relations at The Clinical Trial Vanguard. Jon, a computer data scientist, focuses on the latest clinical trial industry news and trends.
